


Spiral-Bound

by Toothpaste_Fresh



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Episode: e101 Another Twist (The Magnus Archives), Gen, POV Helen | The Distortion, POV Michael | The Distortion, and then, does what happens to michael count as death? i'll tag it anyway to be sure, how the distortion is affected by the identities of the people who became it, the major character death is michael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27230386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toothpaste_Fresh/pseuds/Toothpaste_Fresh
Summary: The Archivist is sat tied-up in front of him. Michael can’t see the future per se, but the Distortion does specialize in impossibly branching paths. And Michael has been the Distortion for long enough now to see the too many paths from here all leading to endpoints he does not want.Set during Episode 101: Another Twist. A look into why Michael wanted the Archivist dead, and why Helen didn't.
Relationships: Helen | The Distortion & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Michael | The Distortion & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Kudos: 19





	Spiral-Bound

Michael has made a decision.

The Archivist is sat tied-up in front of him. Michael can’t see the future per se, but the Distortion does specialize in impossibly branching paths. And Michael has been the Distortion for long enough now to see the too many paths from here all leading to endpoints he does not want.

Does Michael want the world to end? The Distortion has always wanted things to end, but not like this. The Distortion wants all things to end so that the Spiral can rule. The Michael who used to exist did not want all things to end. The Michael who used to exist never thought much about the world ending until the Archivist gave him a map and fed him to the Distortion to stop the Spiral from doing exactly that.

They don’t agree exactly, but Michael and the Distortion (which ate Michael and is now also Michael) can at least find common ground. The world as it is looks like it is going to end. Whether it be a ritual of the Stranger’s or the Eye’s. And too much of everything is centered around the Archivist. So the solution is simple really, the Archivist needs to die.

Does Michael want to kill the Archivist? The Archivist stopped the Spiral’s ritual, and Michael hates them for that. The Archivist fed Michael to the Distortion; Michael hates them for that too. Before that? The Distortion did not care about the Archivist any more than it cared about any other avatar. Michael, while he was still a who, cared for the Archivist, even worried for them.

After Michael became a what, Michael wanted revenge.

Michael still hates and cares and worries for the Archivist. Michael still never got his revenge. But the Archivist in front of him is not the Archivist that betrayed him any more than Michael is what the Distortion was before he was fed to it. Michael does not know how to feel about this Archivist.

Michael can sense how much this Archivist does not know, their confusion creates so much fear within them, and it is delicious. But Michael remembers being a who and not a what and Michael also remembers not knowing things. Michael remembers being strung along in ignorance until it was too late and then Michael got eaten and became something worse.

When Michael was a who he did not want to hurt people. The Michael that exists now does.

The Archivist does not seem to want to hurt people either. But the Archivist is hurting people even if they do not know it. The Archivist will become less a who and more a what and Michael does not think this Archivist wants that. The Michael who used to exist did not want to become the Michael that does now. The Archivist that will exist will certainly likely maybe hurt the world in the future. Michael does not want this to happen and he does not think the Archivist does either.

So Michael will kill the Archivist and it will not happen. The circus will not win and neither will the Eye, so the Spiral is happy. The Archivist will never lose themselves to the fear they serve, so Michael is happy. It is a mercy, really.

Michael shows the Archivist the door.

(The door’s locked. Which isn’t possible. Michael feels something shatter and Michael screams.)

Hellen Richardson is trapped in an endless corridor. The unbreakable mirrors that line it surround her until she can’t move anymore. In all their reflections she sees the thing that called himself Michael staring back at her with a predatory smile. The reflections mimic her movements until she clutches her head and she collapses to the ground and they all stay standing.

Time passes maybe. Helen isn’t sure. But when she takes her face out of her hands she notices that one of the mirror-Michaels has sat down across from her. His smile is softer and his hair is less twisted and his eyes look like human eyes. He feels more genuine than anything else in this place. Helen smiles back.

And then she has a moment of clarity (or whatever can be called clarity here). She has an idea. Helen pushes herself to her feet, and the Michael across from her stays sitting but his expression shifts. Helen’s smile gets wider. She puts her hands to the mirror and claws at it until her fingers are sharp and everything else is cracking. The mirrors shatter. Looking into the fragments, Helen can see her own reflection.

No longer trapped, Helen notices the door. The latch is turning but it is locked. Someone must want to come in.

On the other side is Jonathan Sims. On the other side is the Archivist. Now Helen must decide what to do next.

Does Helen want to kill the Archivist? Michael certainly did. But the Archivist was kind to Helen Richardson and listened to her story when she was scared and confused and had no one else to tell it to. Helen Richardson liked the Archivist.

Michael hated the Archivist, because the Archivist fed Michael to the Distortion. But the Archivist did not feed Helen to the Distortion, that was Michael’s doing and Helen does not like Michael. So why should Helen follow through with Michael’s plan?

Helen has made a decision.

Helen can sense the Archivist’s fear. Helen remembers being scared and being a who and searching for a way out much like the Archivist is now.

The Archivist does not die.

Instead, the Archivist goes home.


End file.
